


The Six

by edriss



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28780317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edriss/pseuds/edriss
Summary: The Ellimist chooses.A fic written in 2011 for a challenge to focus on the six animorphs.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	The Six

He picks Tobias first, though it's only the beginning and even the Ellimist isn't sure what he's putting into action. But Tobias is the natural first choice, as Elfangor fades into the distance and the young blond runs a hand over her stomach. There he erases her memory and alters the DNA strands of her unborn and still unnamed child. He is chosen for greatness. Greatness, but also horror and tragedy. Greatness, but also hardship and more pain than ever should be wished on such an innocent soul. And even the Ellimist, in his infinity, in his everywhere but nowhere body, in his older than the Earth itself memories, even the Ellimist is a little sad that he has made this choice.

***

A few years later, he chooses the next. He is still not sure what he is building with these Earth children but he sees a two year old that disrupts the pattern. She plays with a stuffed kitten on her living room floor as her parents talk about their jobs. She smiles with a knowing beyond her years. The Ellimist sees her and knows.

***

By the time he chooses the third, the Yeerk invasion is well underway. He knows that the group he forms will have to fight them and he hopes there will be time enough to finish recruitment and let them grow up. The third he chooses as the leader, even though he is but seven years old. With light brown hair and a stern face, even as he jokes around with his brother, the Ellimist knows that he can hold a group together. If he only has enough time to live a little first.

***

The Ellimist searches. He knows that time is running out. He runs his nonexistent hands over the pattern that is humans on Earth. They are so far from him and he is lost. He thinks he's been too ambitious, loving this little planet that Crayak has chosen as the newest battlefield. But it is in one of his sour moods, with Crayak's laugh echoing in his mind, that the Ellimist finds his fourth. He can't believe it took him this long to see the wise-cracking boy's potential. He will keep the group sane and he will never give up. And while the boy may be reluctant, the Ellimist notes, he will find a personal stake in this war for Earth.

***

The last is the easiest. He safely guides the dome down through Earth's atmosphere, through the darkening sky, through the calm sea waters, to settle safely on the ocean floor. An Andalite is needed to provide information and protection. But Aximili is young and bendable, he will learn to live with the humans, to work with them, to trust them. He is the last piece of the puzzle and while they are all still children, the Ellimist is out of the time.

***

He plans and guides but never interferes. He sets things up and implants ideas and creates signs that he hopes they see and follow. He smiles sadly as Elfangor crashes on Earth -- sad to see the old Andalite lose the fight, sad knowing that his chosen five will be thrust into this war before they are ready. But at the same time, he knows he has chosen well. He knows that these children are strong, they are smart, they are the only ones that can do this impossible task.

***

The four humans converge at the mall. The blond -- who the Ellimist has mostly ignored, despite her connections to two of his chosen -- is with them. She is walking with them. She laughs wildly, dangerously. The Ellimist is surprised. The four chosen and the blond go through the construction site. She cries. She holds her friend as tears cascade down her cheeks and soak into her hair. She is dangerous and crazy and strong. She is an addition he hadn't counted on. She throws a wrench into all of his carefully laid plans but, in the end, he is not unhappy with her.

***

The Ellimist guided five lives together, knowing that he was sending them to their deaths, knowing he was creating a living nightmare for mere children, knowing they would never forgive him and never be children again. He guided five lives together to fight one evil, to in turn fight an even larger evil. He did not know the outcome when he chose Tobias. He did not know the outcome when Rachel wormed her way into the group. He did not know the outcome as he told Rachel his story, many years later.

***

The Ellimist is not all-seeing. He cannot predict the future, nor can he change it. He does not interfere. He merely sees and guides and suggests. He merely coaxes and watches. He grows attached to his Six. To his Animorphs.


End file.
